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Local health departments may be key to mental health care expansion

A nationally representative analysis indicated local health departments that provide health care services are more likely to perform mental health activities, though many departments engage in mental health activities.

“Mental health has been recognized as a public health priority for nearly a century. Little is known, however, about what local health departments do to address the mental health needs of the populations they serve,” Jonathan Purtle, DrPH, MPH, MS, of Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, and colleagues wrote.

Jonathan Purtle

To investigate this, researchers used data from the 2013 National Profile of Local Health Departments, a nationally representative survey of local health departments in the United States (n = 505). Using Handler’s framework of measurement of public health systems, they characterized health departments’ engagement in eight mental health activities, factors associated with engagement, and estimated the proportion of the U.S. population living in areas where these activities occurred.

The most common mental health activities performed by health departments were assessing gaps in access to mental health care services (39.3%) and implementing strategies to improve access to mental health care services (32.8%).

Local health departments that provided mental health care services were significantly more likely to perform population-based mental illness prevention activities (adjusted OR = 7.1; 95% CI, 5.1-10) and engage in policy/advocacy activities to address mental health (aOR = 3.9; 955 CI, 2.7-5.6).

“For 100 years, people in the United States have been saying mental health is a public health issue. And people in the public health field have been saying, ‘Yes. It is,’” Purtle said in a press release. “That said, many of these organizations have been focused on physical health and mental health has been looked at as the domain of psychologists and psychotherapists, which is an individually-based view of health.”

Disclosure: Please see the full study for a list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.